APES Vocab FINAL

the sum of all the conditions surrounding us that influence life.

The field of study that looks at interactions among human systems and those found in nature.

A particular location on Earth with interacting biotic and abiotic components.

Living.

Non-living.

A social movement that seeks to protect the environment through lobbying, activism, and education.

The field of study that includes environmental science and additional subjects such as environmental policy, economics, literature, and ethics.

The process by which life-supporting resources such as clean water, timber, fisheries, and agricultural crops are produced.

An indicator that describes the current state of an environmental system.

The diversity of life forms in an environment.

A measure of the genetic variation among individuals in a population.

A group of organisms that is distinct from other groups in its morphology (body form and structure), behavior, or biochemical properties.

The number of species in a region or in a particular type of habitat.

The evolution of new species.

The average rate at which species become extinct over the long term.

Gases in Earth's atmosphere that trap heat near the surface.

Derived from human activities.

Amount per each person in a country or unit of population.

Improvement of human-well-being through economic advancement.

Living on Earth in a way that allows humans to use its resources without depriving future generations of those resources.

Developments that balances current human well-being and economic advancement with resource management for the benefit of future generations.

Love of life.

A measure of how much an individual consumes, expressed in area of land.

An objective method to explore the natural world, draw inferences from it, and predict the outcome of certain events, processes, or changes.

A testable conjecture about how something works.

Any categories, conditions, factors, or traits that differ in the natural world or in experimental situations.

A variable that is not dependent on other factors.

A variable that is dependent on other factors.

A prediction that there is no difference between groups or conditions that are being compared.

The data collection procedure of taking repeated measurements.

The number of times a measurement is replicated in data collection.

How close a measured value is to the actual or true value.

How close the repeated measurements of a sample are to one another.

An estimate on how much a measured or calculated value differs from a true value.

A hypothesis that has been repeatedly tested and confirmed by multiple groups of researchers and has reached wide acceptance.

In a scientific investigation, a group that experiences exactly the same conditions as the experimental group, except for the single variable under study.

A natural event that acts as an experimental treatment in an ecosystem.

Anything that occupies space and has mass.

A measurement of the amount of matter an object contains.

The smallest particle that can contain the chemical properties of an element.

A substance composed of atoms that cannot be broken down into smaller, simpler components.

A chart of all chemical elements currently known, organized by their properties.

A particle that contains more than one atom.

A molecule containing more than one element.

The number of protons in the nucleus of a particular element.

A measurement of the total number of protons and neutrons in an element.

Atoms of the same element with different numbers of neutrons.

The spontaneous release of material from the nucleus of radioactive isotopes.

The time it takes for one-half of an original radioactive parent atom to decay.

The bond formed when elements share electrons.

A chemical bond between two ions of opposite charges.

A weak chemical bond that forms when hydrogen atoms that are covalently bonded to one atom are attracted to another atom on another molecule.

A molecule in which one side is more positive and the other side is more negative.

A property of water that results from the cohesion of water molecules at the surface of a body of water and that creates a sort of skin on the water's surface.

A property of water that occurs when adhesion of water molecules to a surface is stronger than cohesion between the molecules.

A substance that contributes hydrogen ions to a solution.

A substance that contributes hydroxide ions to a solution.

The number that indicates the relative strength of acids and bases in a substance.

An increase in the acidity of the oceans.

A reaction that occurs when atoms separate from molecules or recombine with other molecules.

A law of nature stating that matter cannot be created or destroyed; it can only change form.

A compound that does not contain the element carbon or contains carbon bound to elements other than hydrogen.

A compound that contains carbon-carbon and carbon-hydrogen bonds.

A compound composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms.

A critical component of living organisms made up of a long chain of nitrogen-containing organic molecules known as amino acids.

Organic compounds found in all living cells.

A smaller organic biological molecule that does not mix with water.

A highly organized living entity that consists of the four types of macromolecules and other substances in a watery solution, surrounded by a membrane.

The ability to do work or transfer heat.

The amount of energy used when a 1-watt electrical device is turned on for 1 second.

The rate at which work is done.

A form of energy emitted by the Sun that includes, but is not limited to, visible light, ultraviolet light, and infrared energy.

A massless packet of energy that carries electromagnetic radiation at the speed of light.

Stored energy that has not been released.

Potential energy stored in chemical bonds.

The energy of motion.

The measure of the average kinetic energy of a substance.

A physical law which states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed but can change from one form to another.

The physical law stating that when energy is transformed, the quantity of energy remains the same, but its ability to do work diminishes.

The ratio of the amount of energy expended in the form you want to the total amount of energy that is introduced into the system.

The ease with which an energy source can be used for work.

Randomness in a system.

A system in which exchanges of matter or energy occur across system boundaries.

A system in which matter and energy exchanges do not occur across boundaries.

An addition to a system.

A loss from a system.

An analysis to determine inputs, outputs, and changes in a system under various conditions.

A state in which inputs equals outputs, so that the system is not changing over time.

A feedback loop in which a system responds to a change by returning to its original state, or by decreasing the rate at which the change is occurring.

A feedback loop in which change in a system is amplified.

The region of our planet where life resides, the combination of all ecosystems on Earth.

An organism that uses the energy of the Sun to produce usable forms of energy, also known as autotroph.

An organism that uses the energy of the Sun to produce usable forms of energy, also known as producer.

The process by which producers use solar energy to convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose.

The process by which cells unlock the energy of chemical compounds.

The process by which cells convert glucose and oxygen into energy

The process by which cells convert glucose into energy in the absence of oxygen.

An organism that is incapable of photosynthesis and must obtain the energy by consuming other organisms. Also known as heterotroph.

An organism that is incapable of photosynthesis and must obtain the energy by consuming other organisms. Also known as consumer.

A consumer that eats producers. Also known as primary consumer.